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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I saw the Oliver Stone movie of this a few years ago, and absolutely adored it, but hadn't realised that it was based on a novel.
The novel is different, but I still really enjoyed it. Ben and Chon and O are fascinating characters (although O had a smaller role in the book than she did in the movie).
This is written half stream-of-consciousness, half 'normal' storytelling, but it works. It pulls you along, and doesn't let up until the very end.
It's very violent, and very drug-ridden (to be expected in a novel about a couple of pot growers), but it WORKS.
The novel is different, but I still really enjoyed it. Ben and Chon and O are fascinating characters (although O had a smaller role in the book than she did in the movie).
This is written half stream-of-consciousness, half 'normal' storytelling, but it works. It pulls you along, and doesn't let up until the very end.
It's very violent, and very drug-ridden (to be expected in a novel about a couple of pot growers), but it WORKS.
A quick, easy read. It felt like I was watching an episode of Weeds.
Ei nyt ihan varsinaisesti romaani mun makuun, vaikka oli tälläkin hetkensä.
there is pretentious writing and then there is this book
inevitably the book met its destiny becoming a mediocre blockbuster
pass
inevitably the book met its destiny becoming a mediocre blockbuster
pass
Savages by Don Winslow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Blurb: The smash hit thriller about two young marijuana dealers who are blackmailed into a partnership with a Mexican cartel."Baditude." Bad attitude. Ben, Chon, and O have a bad case of it, but so would you if you were the twenty-something, Laguna-cool producers of the best hydro on the Left Coast and now a powerful and vicious Mexican cartel wants in on your business. Ben's a genius botanist out to save the world. Chon's a former SEAL with a "Lack Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." O is a South Orange County slacker girl who loves them both. When the cartel kidnaps O to keep the boys in line, serious baditude breaks out in this twenty-first century thriller that blasts through all the old rules and blows the lid off the genre. But that's baditude for you.
Thoughts: F*ck you.
That is the entire first chpater of this book. And the baditude doesn't let up for a moment.
I really had no idea what to expect with this book. It's been recommended to me for months by Goodreads as something similar to James Ellroy but if that is the case then it is a stripped back raw Ellroy for the 21st Century. The closest comparison I had was Nobody Move which had the same urgent feel and post Tarantino dialogue to it but none of the subtleties that leaves Savages as fantastic unputdownable achievement. I literally hated putting this book down for even a second.
In theory I couldn't care less for reading about drug cartels and turf wars but what Winslow does so well is to tell that story through the lives of such incredibly well written and interesting characters as Chon, Ben and O. They're not fully fleshed out people who share their life stories (as in some of those really tedious popular novels that seem to get churned out) but they are recognisable as people we all know with all the hallmarks of humanity and very unique voices. The same can also be said of Don Winslow. He just rips up the rule book for writing a black as night crime novel.
"Whatever happened to morality?"
"Same thing that happened to CD's, replaced by newer, faster, easier technology."
It's not just the snappy believable dialogue that makes the ride so much fun it is the constant playing with words, formatting, the justification on the page, that increases the enjoyment. To know that every word is placed in it's exact position for a reason gives the text an extra layer of subtlety and meaning and the pleasure that Don Winslow takes in words (even adding a love of words as a character trait for Chon) is infectious. Should you really be laughing out loud in a book that features mass killings, hostage taking and beheadings? For these reasons I might suggest that Savages shares a lot of it's attitude (amongst other things) with another of my recent loves Shoplifting from American Apparel.
This is an American novel that analyses post 9/11, post Obama America in such a way as to bathe it in bright flourescent light, all it's failings and weaknesses shown as plain as day. It is a bold move for an American to write this stuff, almost constantly bashing every little detail of the 21st century American dream gone wrong.
Click here for my review of the movie adaptation.
Additional reading:
The Blonde by Duane Swierczynski
Pariah by Dave Zeltserman
Money Shot by Christa Faust
Originally posted at blahblahblahgay
This book is fenomenal. I started reading it after I saw Savages, the film. I guess what attracted me to read it was the writing itself. Don Winslow as an amazing writing, wild, funny and really different from anything I have ever read. I noticed some differences between the book and film, starting with the ending(well, bit of a shocker) and some character's traits, but this book is simply amazing. Ben, Chon and O made my day.
Much shorter and with a tighter focus than his other epic crime novels. Interesting to see the crime world he writes so much about, but from a different angle (two young Americans carving out a piece of the drug business on their own terms). Reads like a movie.
Extremely weird prose describing content that is too graphic even for me.
It's a quick read....fun. You don't really need to use your brain too much which is what I needed. The movie comes out soon but I have to say that I don't see Blake Lively playing the lead but she could surprise me.
People are troubled by the "white people=good, mexicans=bad" but in my opinion nobody comes out looking that great. Besides just because something is based in fact that may be detrimental to a group of people, does that mean no one can ever say anything about it? Good or bad?
People are troubled by the "white people=good, mexicans=bad" but in my opinion nobody comes out looking that great. Besides just because something is based in fact that may be detrimental to a group of people, does that mean no one can ever say anything about it? Good or bad?